Blog Entry #23

 

 

A World War II Story: Across the Blue Pacific

By Louise Borden

Illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker

Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006

37 pages

Historical Fiction

 

Across the Blue Pacific is an exceptional war story. It captures the feeling of war times in the 1940's, and that is why I chose this book. It is the story of a soldier named Ted Walker and his neighbor, Molly. Ted went into the Navy and graduated from Anapolis, and he left Orchard Road. He left when Molly and her brother were still small, and he came home when they were much bigger. Ted told them things about Navy ships and about the war. Ted's submarine, the Albacore, was lost at sea, and Molly had to deal with the war coming too close to home.

The illustrations in Across the Blue Pacific are done in watercolor. The color is very muted and soft, and the lines are dark and defined. The illustrations are kind of abstract, and the characters' faces and bodies are not well-defined. The text format is formal, there a single-page illustration every other page, except for one double page illustration. The quality of the book is nice, but I think less abstract paintings would have made the book much more appealing.

Fourth grade students could read this book independently, but it is appropriate for third through fifth grade. Across the Blue Pacific would be great to use for lessons in social studies or even geography. The book tells a good deal of information about Navy ships and submarines, the oceans, and locations in the war. It would be great for a teacher read aloud or for independent reading, because the reader can really connect to what people felt during this time period. This book has no awards or honors.